area51novel Chapter 39 Green Bamboo
Chapter 39 Green Bamboo
"It is said that orchids are the gentlemen among flowers, with the most elegant posture and known for their purity and simplicity. Therefore, they are also called 'gentleman orchids.' Keeping a few pots at home can cultivate one's character," Sun Fangfang said to Wei Qingqing and Zheng Bao'er, pointing to a pot of orchids.
"Sister, you have such good insight..." The flower seller was an old man in his sixties. After hearing Sun Fangfang's words, he couldn't help but give her a thumbs up, his face full of admiration.
"..." Calling me "elder sister" again? Am I that young? Sun Fangfang felt a fire burning in her heart, but seeing how old this old man was, she didn't say anything more and wandered over to other stalls.
"This chrysanthemum is the most despicable. All the other flowers have withered, but it's the only one that's showing off. If you're so proud of yourself, then learn from the plum blossom and bloom in winter..." For some reason, Sun Fangfang just couldn't stand chrysanthemums, especially when she looked at their petals, she would grit her teeth in disgust.
"Hey, sister, these chrysanthemums are quite famous. The great poet Tao Yuanming of the Northern Wei Dynasty even wrote, 'Picking chrysanthemums by the eastern fence, I leisurely gaze at the Southern Mountains.' These chrysanthemums are not only beautiful to look at, but they can also be used as medicine." The stall owner selling chrysanthemums was a middle-aged woman in her forties. Hearing Sun Fangfang's words, she immediately retorted unhappily.
"Big sister, Tao Yuanming lived in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, okay?" Sun Fangfang said.
"I don't care whether he goes east or west, south or north, he just wrote a poem for my chrysanthemums," the chrysanthemum stall owner said, rolling his eyes.
"Giggle." Wei Qingqing covered her mouth and laughed. This stall owner was too interesting.
"Yes, yes, your chrysanthemums are the most famous." Sun Fangfang responded twice and then left.
Wei Qingqing, pulling Zheng Bao'er along, laughed as she followed closely behind, disappearing as well.
"Young people these days are so uncultured. They don't even know Tao Yuanming. He was a great poet from the Tang Dynasty." The chrysanthemum stall owner looked at the three people's backs with disdain and curled his lip.
"This is a balsam flower, also called henna. It's used to dye fingernails. My family used to grow it when I was little." Wei Qingqing saw the short plant with small purple, pink, or red flowers and squatted down to look at it carefully. She even stretched out her fingers, plucked two petals, and gently crushed them. A trace of red juice got on her fingers.
"Do you want henna, sister?" The henna seller was a little girl, about fifteen or sixteen years old, carrying a schoolbag. She looked a little timid and was holding a junior high school English textbook in her hand.
"Aunt Qingqing, we also have henna at home, but they're all red, not purple or pink. I've saved up quite a few seeds, I'll give them to you when we get back." Zheng Bao'er squatted down next to Wei Qingqing.
"Okay, thank you, Bao'er," Wei Qingqing pinched Zheng Bao'er's little cheek, then looked at the little girl selling flowers: "Little sister, how much are your henna flowers?"
"Two yuan a plant," the little girl said timidly.
"Give me two plants of each, the purple one and the pink one. By the way, do you sell seeds here?"
"Yes, it's fifty cents a pack." The little girl took out a small paper packet from her schoolbag. "This pack contains twenty seeds."
"Give me two packs of both the purple and pink ones..." Wei Qingqing said.
"Wait a moment, sister." The little girl quickly and deftly picked two stalks each from the purple and pink henna plants, wrapped them in a plastic bag, and then rummaged through her schoolbag, finding four small paper packets. "That's 10 yuan in total."
"Here you go." Wei Qingqing handed the money to the little girl, who quickly thanked her with a smile, her smile showing a hint of shyness.
"Hey, how much is this bamboo?" While Wei Qingqing was buying henna, Sun Fangfang was at a bamboo stall, scrutinizing a clump of green bamboo. The bamboo was indeed beautiful, but upon closer inspection, it seemed to be missing something; it looked too young.
"50 yuan a stalk." The bamboo seller was a middle-aged man in his forties, who looked somewhat scholarly. He wore plastic-framed glasses and was holding a book of poems. He didn't even look up when he heard Sun Fangfang's question.
"Isn't it a bit expensive?"
"The great Northern Song Dynasty writer Su Shi said, 'I would rather go without meat than live without bamboo. Without meat one becomes tired, and without bamboo one becomes vulgar.' At only 50 yuan a stalk, it is already very cheap."
"So, from what you're saying, how much are you planning to sell it for?"
"priceless……"
Sun Fangfang, accustomed to being a leader in the company, had a knack for judging people. She sensed this person was either a bit eccentric or a bookworm. A mischievous idea quickly formed in her eyes. She said, "Old Bai of the Tang Dynasty said, 'Bamboo's roots are firm, thus cultivating virtue; bamboo's nature is straight, thus establishing oneself; bamboo's heart is hollow, thus embodying the Way; bamboo's joints are steadfast, thus establishing one's will.' I think the bamboo itself isn't valuable; what's valuable are these qualities of bamboo—no, these qualities cannot be measured by money."
"I didn't expect we'd find a kindred spirit..." The middle-aged man looked up in surprise at Sun Fangfang. "Young lady, you also love bamboo?"
"I didn't like bamboo, I was just saying that casually," Sun Fangfang said with a faint smile. "I wonder if your family is facing some difficulties? Otherwise, why would you be willing to sell these bamboo plants?"
"To my shame, I am a member of the Yunggu County Ancient Literature Society. I have always been fond of the Three Friends of Winter, and I buy them every time I see them to plant at home. As a result, I have almost no savings left. Now my eldest son has been admitted to Beijing University, but the tuition fee is quite high. I have no choice but to sell the bamboo to raise the tuition fee." The middle-aged man shook his head in distress.
"Life is so helpless! Even the once romantic and talented Tang Bohu, with his unparalleled poetic talent and unmatched painting skills, couldn't help but be brought down by the hardships of life. What about 'music, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, wine and flowers'? In the end, they all became 'firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar and tea'. A generation of romantic and talented people have become ordinary people in the city. It's really a pity..." Sun Fangfang shook her head and sighed in a pretentious manner.
"Sigh!" The middle-aged man also looked distressed. It was clear that Sun Fangfang had hit a nerve. How similar he was to the romantic and talented Tang Yin back then!
"Sigh! That's life. There are plenty of times when you have to bow down for a pittance. Try to think more positively," Sun Fangfang said.
"Sigh..." The middle-aged man's face changed from sorrow to grief as he gazed at his beloved green bamboo, his eyes shimmering with tears.
"Bamboo is steadfast; it can be broken but not humiliated. To sell it like a commodity is the greatest insult to bamboo. However, in urgent situations, one must act expediently. If it's sold, it's sold. Bamboo is still bamboo. You may insult it, but it will still grow." Sun Fangfang was too wicked. Her words were like adding fuel to the fire. The middle-aged man looked ashamed, suddenly covered his face, squatted on the ground, and began to sob, attracting the attention of many people.
"Hey, hey, it has nothing to do with me, I didn't bully you..." Sun Fangfang never expected that a grown man could cry so easily, and her scalp tingled. She quickly tried to distance herself from the situation.
"I heard everything. You were deliberately provoking her. How could you do that?" Wei Qingqing pulled Sun Fangfang aside and said with some dissatisfaction.
"Who told him to be so hypocritical..." Sun Fangfang muttered softly, "Besides, he's such a jerk, crying like that."
"Do you think everyone is as arrogant as your family?" Wei Qingqing rolled her eyes at her.
"Your Yang Ming is so good..." Sun Fangfang wrinkled her nose at Wei Qingqing.
"Brother, don't cry. What's there to cry about? I heard what that girl said. She has a point. What we should learn is the quality of bamboo. You insulted bamboo, but it still grows as it always has. You'll only truly understand bamboo when you understand this principle." An old man carrying a birdcage walked over and patted the middle-aged man on the shoulder.
"Old Huang is right. The bamboo in the pot is an ornamental plant. Only by swaying in the wind and rain can it grow into a real bamboo. Brother, you really should step out of your own circle and spend more time with others. You will understand a lot of things." An old man holding a white cat stood next to Old Huang.
"Old Li, stay away from me, you bastard! You just sold your dead black cat a few days ago, how come you bought a white one today?" Old Huang immediately hugged the birdcage to his chest, watching the white cat in Old Li's arms warily.
"Well, this old Huang, after we sold our cat, my granddaughter is upset. She's been making a fuss with me for days..." Old Li said with a bitter smile.
"You...you stay away from me..." Old Huang realized that the white cat's eyes had never left his birdcage, and he was so frightened that he took several steps back.
"Meow..." With a meow, the big white cat suddenly jumped out of Old Li's arms and pounced on Old Huang's birdcage. Then, with lightning speed, its claws reached into the birdcage, grabbed the yellow bird inside, bit it to death in its mouth, and then, carrying the yellow bird in its mouth, darted back to Old Li's arms like lightning.
"Old Li, I'll fight you... I'll fight you to the death..." Old Huang's eyes were red. He held the empty birdcage above his head, and grains and water gushed out, soaking Old Huang's head and face. But Old Huang didn't care at all and threw the birdcage directly at Old Li.
Grandpa Li quickly dodged, his face full of apologetic smiles: "Old Huang, I really didn't mean to..."
Grandpa Huang was already in a berserk state, looking around for a handy weapon. He spotted some sturdy and upright green bamboo, snapped one off with a snap, and raised his arm to strike.
"Old Huang, are you crazy? You're really going to hit me..." Old Li was so frightened that he scurried around in all directions, and the whole flower market became a bit chaotic.
"See that? That's the legendary Old Li's cat, the black terror of the bird market."
"That's really strange. Why does Old Li's cat only eat the birds in the cage? Isn't that disgusting?"
Some insiders began pointing fingers at the two old men chasing each other, discussing the matter with great interest.
"Is your cat from them?" Sun Fangfang asked, pointing at Grandpa Li who had run away.
"Yang Ming said the old man who sells cats is quite famous in the bird market, something like 'Old Li's cats, they only eat caged birds' or something." Wei Qingqing witnessed the white cat 'hunting' and was quite shocked.
An elderly woman who was at the market nearby chimed in, "That's right. The cat you bought belongs to them. It's strange, but no matter what kind of cat it is, as long as it's handled by Old Li, it always likes to snatch birds from their cages and eat them."
After this incident, the two sisters lost interest in browsing the market and instead casually bought some flowers, plants, and seeds at the flower market. Since they were going to plant them in the small valley anyway, and it wasn't like they were making potted plants, it didn't matter if they were a little rough around the edges.
Even though they only bought two or three of each kind, there were so many different kinds that when they finally gathered them all together, they realized that Zhang Yang's van couldn't possibly carry all of them. So the two sisters discussed it and decided to hire a transport truck to take the plants back.
After hiring a transport truck and loading all the flowers and plants into the truck, the three of them sat on the curb, waiting for Zhang Yang to return.
When Zheng Bao'er finished eating her fifth candied hawthorn, Zhang Yang finally arrived late...
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